Oluwatosin Enesi
A foremost broadcaster and administrator, Dr. Adaba is the first Nigerian to bag a doctorate degree (PhD) in Mass Communications. He, however, has something unique about him as he is credited with pioneering the establishment of some important organisations in the country.
Tom Adaba left a teaching job in the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) for the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Jos. He was a pioneer staff of the first television station in Nigeria to transmit in colour – the Benue/Plateau Television.
He was the first principal of the NTA College in Jos. The importance of that institution in moulding and training high calibre manpower for the television industry, not only in Nigeria but also in the African continent, cannot be overemphasised.
He was also the first to earn a PhD in Mass Communication from the University of Jos. He was the pioneer director-general of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), which midwifes the deregulation and opening up of the broadcast space for private investors’ participation.
In 1991, when as a deputy director in NTA Lagos, his name was pencilled down among those to be affected by outright down-sizing thereby ending his career from public service prematurely. Luck, however, smiled on him when former President Ibrahim Babangida in 1992 appointed him as the pioneer director-general of the newly-established National Broadcasting Commission (NBC); a position he occupied for seven years before he finally bowed out of public service in 1999.
By this appointment his role automatically changed and he became the boss of those who wanted to sack him, regulating their functions and those of private radio and television stations and ownership across the country. That could only be God’s doing.
During his tenure as the Director-General of the NBC, he built and supervised the establishment of new private radio and television stations, side by side the old government-owned broadcast stations, for seven years.
The NBC as an institution has outlived him. During his tenure, he assisted in setting up some West African and South African broadcasting regulatory bodies, equivalent to Nigeria’s NBC.
Adaba has authored and coauthored many books in Mass Communication, attended and delivered numerous lectures in journalism, and sundry national discourse. In fact, he is a role model to many Nigerians, especially in the broadcast industry.
He was the first Nigerian (between 1988 and 1992) to be honoured as president of the African Council for Communication Education (ACCE), based in Nairobi, Kenya. The ACCE is one of the biggest communication bodies in Africa. It was established in 1979.
Adaba is indeed a consummate planner and articulate administrator. There is no half measure in anything he embarks on. It is perhaps for this reason that the Elders-in-Council in Ebira land considered him worthy of the chieftaincy title of Ohi Etohueyi, meaning the beacon of light in Ebira land. It is also in recognition of his exemplary selfless service, not only to the Church but also to humanity that some time in December 2020, Pope Francis considered him and few other men and women of the Metropolitan of Abuja Archdiocese worthy to be awarded the prestigious title of Papal Knight of St Gregory the Great. Before this, he was the Grand Knight of St Mulumba, Maitama Sub-council.
In retirement, Prof Adaba is still active and currently the chairman/chief executive officer of Trim Communications Ltd.
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